Sunday, December 7, 2008

Another tough challenge

Tonight will see Cambodia take on the Group A hosts Indonesia in their second game of the round-robin group matches of the AFF 2008 Suzuki Cup, Southeast Asia's premier football tournament. If coach Prak Sovannara (right) thought the opening 5-nil defeat against Singapore was tough, then tonight's match will also put the young Cambodian team under severe pressure, not only do they have to contend with a rampant home side that beat Myanmar 3-0 in the opening game, but the vociferous home fans in the Gelora Bung Karno stadium will act as the proverbial 12th man too. Let's face it, Cambodia have no chance of success, especially if they maintain their 11-man defensive tactics that were the hallmark of their opening defeat. They didn't manage a shot on target throughout that game and for my money, I'd much rather see them take the game to the hosts and go down gallantly, rather than dourly defending their goal in the last third of the pitch for the whole game. A giantkilling act is not on the cards. Kick-off should be around 7.30pm and the match will be beamed by Star Sports. The man to watch out for in the Indonesian team is star striker Bambang Pamungkas who has a great strike-rate of 35 goals in 60 international appearances. He even has his own website.